


Long Enough to Last a Lifetime

by 1000PaperCranes



Category: ChalkZone
Genre: Best Friends, But Not In School, ChalkZone Has A Mind Of Its Own, Developing Relationship, F/M, High School, Penny's Just Adorable, Penny's Laundry Day Attire, Rudy's Adorably Obsessed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-08 09:17:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15927407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1000PaperCranes/pseuds/1000PaperCranes
Summary: Penny has been Rudy's best friend since elementary school.  At this point she's perfectly happy to explore ChalkZone without him.  Now he just has to find her.





	Long Enough to Last a Lifetime

Penny's parents never came into her room anymore.  Rudy wasn't sure if it was because she was a teenager or if it was because she was a genius.  Either way, it allowed him to leave a chalk portal open in her closet.  They'd been disappearing from his bedroom since they were children, but somehow Penny's parents were less suspicious.  Or maybe Rudy's parents were just nosier.

As Rudy twisted the knob without knocking, confident that Penny was both expecting him and not physically in the room, her father hollered to him.  His voice was so thickly accented Rudy's own parents couldn't understand him, and Rudy often wondered why he bothered using English; Rudy's Spanish was certainly good enough to handle pleasantries, anyway. 

"Gracias no, Senor Sanchez,” he called back.  If it had been cactus pies, he’d have eaten three.  That was probably why Penny's dad never offered them.

Penny's room was quiet and dark.  The lava lamp glowed softly, slowly changing colors, casting just enough light for Rudy to see the impeccably neat furnishings.  The window was open to the chill night air, no doubt to make it look as though they had crept out in a more conventional manner.  Since the room was also empty of people, Rudy didn't resist the odd compulsion to straighten his shorts and shirt to match the décor, something he fought down viciously when in Penny's presence, though he wasn't sure why.  He definitely had stranger quirks.

Chalk Zone for instance, though she shared that with him.  Maybe it was just that it was silly, in a way that Chalk Zone, despite its silliness, never had been.  Rudy glanced at the lava lamp, again.  Penny had her own quirks, too.  Like her glasses, which she didn't actually need anymore.  'They're for safety, Rudy,' her words echoed in his head.  And he knew that, but sometimes, he wished she'd just take them off.  Maybe that's why he did it, fought the urge to hike up pants that weren't sagging and pull down hems that fell just fine.  He didn't want Penny to want him to stop doing it, so he didn't start.

Rudy leaned in the window for a minute, enjoying the way the breeze made the hair on his arms stand up.  He wondered what Sophie was doing tonight.  Her tenth birthday had been last week, and Rudy had given her the biggest portable portal he could find, a blackboard bigger than Aunt Tillie's kitchen sink, but small enough to balance on Sophie's lap.  Penny had given her boxes filled with magic chalk, all but one of which sat just inside the portal point mounted on the wall inside the downstairs bedroom of 2442 Harness Circle.  Rudy looked over the skyline in the direction of Riderton, just on the other side of Plainville.  As much as he adored Sophie, he really didn't want to her in Chalk Zone tonight.

It had been long enough, now.  Rudy bumped around a bit on his way to the closet.  Here we are, settling in to a movie.  Or sneaking out the window, whatever worked.  Rudy closed the door nearly soundlessly.  Where most teenage girls had a mirror, Penny had a full-length black board.  He smiled, always feeling like the Halloween version of Alice through the Looking Glass when the chalk curtain was drawn and he stepped right into the apparently solid surface.

Stepping out into Night Zone, Rudy shook the curtain back into place.  He didn't immediately see Penny or Snap and so headed for the daylight.  He wondered what they were doing, or if they were even doing it together.  They got on well enough, but Snap didn't have that way of always turning up where Penny was like he did with Rudy.

"Hey, Bucko!"  Right on cue.  Rudy smiled to himself.  "What are we doin' today, uh, tonight, I guess?  How's things in the solid world?"

"Oh, you know, same old same old," Rudy replied, looking over Snap's shoulder.  Snap was drawing on a piece of chalk-paper with a chalk-pencil.  It looked a lot like Blocky.  Then Snap erased it.  "Um, what are you doing?"

"Hey!" Snap drew the word out.  "I thought that if things get erased into Chalk Zone from your world, maybe things that are erased here wind up somewhere else."  Rudy blinked, that… was an interesting concept.  One he privately doubted. And found a little disturbing.  Hopefully, the fact that only 'Creators' and not Chalk-Residents could use the magic chalk that _grew_ in Chalk Zone meant the universe had some kind of failsafe against that kind of thing.  "You didn't just come here to doubt my genius, did ya?"

"Actually," Rudy rocked back on his feet, "I was looking for Penny."

"Oh," Snap said, a little distracted.  Dodged a bullet there.  "She's takin' a nap in the Two-Lips."  He pointed without looking up again.

"Thanks, Snap!" Rudy replied enthusiastically, hoping his friend would take that as a substitute for attention when he realized he's been ditched, and headed off in that direction.

Rudy was pretty sure the giant field of Two-Lips was Penny's favorite place in Chalk Zone.  Personally, when it came to chalk-flowers, Rudy preferred Pop!ies, but the noise did make it hard to sleep.  When it came to real flowers ‒ and both his parents asked, for some bizarre reason ‒ Rudy always said poppies, because the association made him giggle inside.

Penny must have been really taking a nap.  When Rudy arrived at the edge of the field, there was no sign of his best friend.  He'd just have to walk through the growth until he spotted her under the blooms.  He set off on his search, headed towards a patch of Two-Lips with gargantuan petals, secretly pleased at the fluttery feeling of the blossoms darting kisses onto his passing calves.  He spotted Penny, right where he thought she'd be.  He looked down at her face in the shifting shadows as the big Two-Lips reached up to smooch him hello about the thighs and hips, one even making it as high as his navel. 

Penny was something else, laid out peacefully beneath the flowers, one arm resting in the softly drawn grass above her head, the other curled around her waist.  Rudy sank down to sit among the Two-Lips, hardly noticing when the plants greeted him again, pushing satiny kisses all over him.  One tiny bud on a very long stem even got twisted in his hair.  Rudy gently worked it free, not really considering the idea that he could pick it and tuck it into Penny's wavy locks.  The pink petals would look good there, in Penny's long, dark tresses.

He almost laughed.  He could imagine Penny's reaction.  'Oh!' confused but pretending to be delighted, 'Thank you very much, Rudy.'  Honestly, Rudy preferred it when she just blinked at him; he could tell how confused she was by how wide her eyes got.  Or the way she laughed when she was actually delighted.  The way she had laughed when Rudy ran his palms over the freshly shorn peach fuzz on the sides of her head.  Her hair was so thick that it cascaded over the blank spaces as if nothing were missing.  Penny had given a very scientific explanation for how it made her mane more manageable. 

Rudy had thought she was just a little more rock-and-roll than anyone gave her credit for.  He still did.  He thought a lot of things about Penny.  He thought about her lovely chestnut hair, about her shinning sable eyes, her great big beautiful brain.  And after all this time, Rudy knew more about Penny than anyone else, even herself sometimes.  Like how Senora Sanchez had bought Penny this orange dress so she could be more fashionable, but Penny only wore it on laundry day, because seriously.  And how Rudy was sure that Penny secretly adored the dress because it made her look _fabulous_. 

Extra fabulous.

Snap didn't understand dresses, which was pretty normal, Rudy supposed, considering that he was a chalk drawing made by an eight-year-old boy.  Rudy, on the other hand, had grown up, and boy did he understand dresses.  Particularly this dress.  He let his eyes roam over Penny, who was too asleep to mind.  The sunset color set off her skin.  The cut of the bodice showed off her curves without giving them away.  The skirt swished a lot when Penny moved, and that always got Rudy's attention.

_Penny_ always got Rudy's attention.

As if sensing said attention, Penny shifted subtly.  Or maybe Rudy was just breathing too loudly.  He calmed himself.  Rudy hoped that Penny liked him just as much as he liked her, but there was always a chance he was wrong, and being downright creepy certainly wouldn’t help.  Sable eyes blinked open, looking up at him drowsily.  Penny smiled but didn’t say anything.  The silence stretched until eventually Penny levered herself up onto her elbows.  She looked expectantly at her best friend, but still didn’t say a word.

Out of nowhere, Rudy heard himself say, "Michelle Norwegiano asked me to the Sadie Hawkins dance, yesterday."

"I heard."  Penny sounded none too pleased and Rudy had to fight down a smile.  He loved to needle his best friend about her pencil thin green streak, and it wouldn't work if he cracked now.

"I told her I couldn't go."

Penny’s eyebrow shot up.  "Why wouldn't you be able to go to the dance?"

"I said I was already going to the dance with someone else."  Rudy bit his lip, feigning shyness, but really just clamping down on a mischievous grin.

For a moment Penny was silent, gaping at him, before she exploded, "Someone asked you to the dance _and you didn't tell me_?"

Rudy reached out, fingering the hem by Penny's knee.  "Well," he began shyly, before her startled incredulousness could become something… less hilarious.  "It might have been a little presumptuous of me…  She hasn't actually asked me, yet."  He looked up, giving Penny's skirt a few delicate tugs.  "But I figured it was a safe bet."  Rudy held her eyes.  'In the name of King Mumbo Jumbo, please ask me,' he thought, a little desperately.

By unspoken agreement, Rudy and Penny had gone to every dance since the sixth grade together.  Neither one of them ever asked, or ever asked anyone else.  But this year was different.  And not just because Michelle had asked him.  He was pretty sure that had been directly related to the fact that Reggie Bullnerd had asked her out five minutes prior.  Rudy was literally the next boy she had seen.  He smiled thoughtfully. 

Michelle Norwegiano was the salt of the earth and captain of the cheerleading squad, but even if Rudy hadn't been head-over-heels for Penny, he'd have said no.  Flash Diamondbacker, the quarterback of the football team and catcher of the baseball team, was an all-around good guy, who just so happened to look like his balloon had been popped when he walked out of Jazz Band rehearsal to hear Michelle's frantic request.  ' _I'm sure that would be fun and all Michelle, but someone's already asked me, and I'm pretty sure Flash has been waiting for you to ask him all week.  Bye!_ '  Rudy had hightailed it around a corner before turning back to see Flash blushing furiously as Michelle asked him out.  Homecoming King and Queen get together, news at five.

Now, if only Penny would just ask Rudy out.  That would truly be news worthy.   Even better than when Responsible Reggie had hit it off with Reasonable Regina.  When the silence stretched to disquieting lengths, Rudy babbled out the story about Reggie and Michelle and Flash.  At least that made her smile.

"So, is there someone you need me to nudge into asking you?"  She gave him a sly grin, waxing conspiratorial.

Penny had to be doing this on purpose.  Rudy bit his lip, shaking his head.  He would have asked her the second he saw the poster, but that wasn't how the big, winter Sadie Hawkins Sock-Hop worked.  Why couldn't this have been Homecoming?  Why didn't _Rudy_ ask _Penny_ to Homecoming?

Pink blossoms swayed around their heads as the Two-Lips were subjected to a gentle breeze.  The edge of Penny’s skirt was still between Rudy’s fingers.  He rubbed the silk nervously, eyes flicking everywhere on his best friend’s face.  He felt helpless as she watched him back, expression elegantly dissolving into something serene.

The flowers continued to sway.

Heart pounding, Rudy finally glanced away.  He studied the intricate purple and blue birds splotched across the fabric hiding Penny’s thighs.  He could feel this moment slipping away like sand…

“Rudy?”  His head snapped up, locking eyes with Penny as she said very seriously, “Would you like to go to the dance with me?”

Relief washed over him and Rudy couldn’t help it, he laughed.  Pain darted onto Penny’s face but was quickly suppressed.  Grinning irrepressibly, Rudy leaned forward, eager to chase away the hurt.  “I thought you’d never ask.” 

Penny’s pretty mouth dropped into a gentle oh of surprise, eyes blinking slowly.  Rudy pulled her towards him and she burst into delicate giggles, allowing herself to be swept into her best friend’s arms.  “Oh, Rudy.”  She tucked her face against his neck.  Rudy breathed in the earthy scent of Penny’s hair and the slightly chalky perfume of the Two-Lips.  Slowly, Rudy allowed himself to become completely absorbed into the reality that was Penny Sanchez.

Suddenly, the flowers descended on them. 

Kissing Rudy and Penny all over, and pushing playfully between them, the Two-Lips eventually dislodged the clinging teenagers.  Flopping onto the ground, Rudy didn’t even try to control his laughter as the ticklish assault continued.  He looked over at Penny only to see her similarly afflicted.  Taking one last opportunity to stun his best friend, Rudy grabbed Penny’s hand.  She laced their fingers together.  Pressing his lips briskly to the back of her thumb, Rudy saw and heard Penny gasp. 

The Two-Lips retreated slowly, leaving Penny flushed and grinning and still holding fast to Rudy’s hand as they lay in the green chalk grass. 

“Hoi calloi,” Snap clucked, making his way through the field of flowers like an overly aggressive blueberry.  “Took you two long enough.”

Rudy’s heart pounded in his chest.  He stared into Penny’s eyes, mildly entranced.  It sure had taken them long enough.  Long enough to last a lifetime.

**Author's Note:**

> Started this YEARS ago. I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be an epic Princess Bride style adventure, but I can't remember anymore. I hope it flows correctly. As always, unbeta'd; all mistakes are mine and I'm happy to fix them.


End file.
